Time Well Spent
by Phx-Songbird
Summary: Not a typical time turner story. Hermione uses the time turner to change certian events that occured during DH. AU. EWE. Not a romantic pairing.


I truly enjoyed writing this. Depending on the reviews I may consider elaborating.

All recognizable characters, places, or events belong to J.K. Rowling. Thanks again to TiesieKale, the best beta ever!

Hermione understood that her friends would probably hate her for going back to save him, while leaving others that were more beloved to die. She did not quite understand herself why she thought it necessary to go back and save his life. After the initial commotion died down, and every one settled in the Great Hall, Hermione went back to the Shrieking Shack intent on saving the life of Severus Snape.

It was a little known fact that Hermione Granger still had in her possession the time turner, which she had used in her third year. The few people that actually knew of its existence believed that she had returned it at the end of that school year. Since all of the ministry-approved time-turners were allegedly broken during the battle for the prophecy, at the end of the fifth year it was simple enough to keep the knowledge to herself.

A part of her worried about what Ron would think. He would, more than likely not, begrudge her for not using this opportunity to save his brother's life, but it would have been difficult to do so. There had been too many witnesses. With Snape, things would be a lot less complicated. After you-know-who attempted to kill him with that horrible beast, Harry would retrieve his memories, they would leave, and then she could get to work. Luckily enough, Hermione was not squeamish. She already anticipated the copious amounts of blood that would come from the man she would be attempting to save.

Doing everything within her power to remain calm and quiet, Hermione cast a disillusion charm on herself and waited for the events that she already anticipated to unfold. Oh, how she wished she could prevent the pain and the anguish her former professor would surely feel after Nagini's attack. There was no other way. Voldemort would have to believe that he was truly at death's door before leaving him to his demise in the dusty old shack. There were things that not even a time-tuner could change. This was one of them. At least it allowed her, for a second time, to save the life an innocent man.

After what Harry had said upon viewing the newest headmaster's memories upon his demise, Hermione knew what she must do. She wondered if he would thank her or, possibly, hate her even more, if that were remotely possible. She understood why he treated her the way he did. Hermione was nobody's fool. While the boys held on to all of their preconceived notions from the early years at Hogwarts, she understood all to well the fine line that their professor had been forced to walk on. A lesser man would not have been able to sustain that balance for as long as Severus Snape did. It amazed that her that Voldemort had not killed him upon his return at the end of their fourth year. The man was truly an enigma. Hermione pondered upon her decision to save his life, he deserved it whether or not he believed it, or wanted it. After all, it would not have been very Gryffindor of her to leave him to die when she possessed the means to do something about it.

It seemed as if she had been waiting for days. It had only been two hours. She had given herself enough time to get to the dusty old house before anyone else did. The additional time allowed her to find a place to hide where she could hear everything that was going on while avoiding discovery. If anyone had found her, it would spell a death sentence at the hands of some rather nasty characters. She shuddered at the thought. Given her natural instinct to figure things out, she wondered what would happen to the past tense version of her if anyone found her hiding there. 'Better not to even think that it's going to happen,' she mused while keeping her silent vigil.

The time had finally arrived. The moment to act was here. She pressed her ear to the wall and heard as the headmaster pled the evil man to allow him to bring Harry to him. Naturally, they had misunderstood his intentions. He wanted to give Harry the truth. He suspected that his demise was at hand. 'Poor Professor Snape', Hermione thought to herself. She knew that her other version and two friends were listening at the entrance beneath the floor. It was getting closer. Most people would begin to panic at a time like this, but not Hermione. She could keep a clear head even under stressful situations. This had been an added benefit to Harry during the past year. Logic under fire is what Dumbledore had called it, when Gryffindor won the House Cup at the end of their first year.

It seemed almost ironic to Hermione that the 'logic under fire' in this situation applied to Professor Snape, since it had also applied to him then. Even then, she understood the meaning of Dumbledore's words. She had solved Professor Snape's logic puzzle, thus allowing the trio to get past the flames that were part of the safe guards used for the Philosopher's Stone. She had also been the one to set fire to his robes. As dangerous as that had been it did not even come close to the peril she was in right now. Her timing had to be precise. The warning for using the time-turner had always been never to allow the past self to see the future self. Both future and past Hermione knew that she possessed the time-turner, but she reasoned that the past could not anticipate what a future version of oneself would do. It was something she would have to research when she found the time, and things got back to normal.

She listened as Voldermort hissed in, what she believed to be, parseltongue. She had only heard Harry speak it a few times, but it sounded similar. It was happening, now, and she would have to wait. Precious minutes meant everything. He would lose so much blood. She truly hoped that she would be able to save his life. She had the necessary potions. Taking those from his private stores had been simple enough since all of the wards that surrounded Hogwarts had fell. The same anti-venom that had saved Arthur Weasley's life would do the trick, since the same snake bit both men. She wondered why it never occurred to her that he had been the one to create it. He had been the only one among them with access to snake. Even in the magical world, the venom of poisonous creatures would be useful in the creation of anti-venoms.

Within her possession, she also had beazor, a vial of blood replenishing potion, and pain relief potion… the dittany that she used to heal Ron, stashed within in her little beaded bag. Thankfully, she had thought of everything. She could only wait to see if her plan would work. Her patience was beginning to wear thin. Why did everything seem to transpire so quickly the first time around? Harry should have those memories by now. Listening closely for their retreating footsteps, she acted.

First, she had to heal the wounds on his neck. It would not do if the potions she was prepared to give him did not stay in his system. The blood was everywhere in an amazingly brief period. She was slightly afraid of coming in contact with the blood, because it was contaminated by Nagini's venom, but did not have time dwell on it. She could vanish the blood after he swallowed the potions. It was risky, but necessary. The anti-venom appeared to be doing its job. The professor's countenance was not as pale as it had been when she first entered the room. The dittany did a great job at sealing wounds. Hermione was no healer, but she could work miracles, even in these dire circumstances. Now came the tricky part. Doses of blood replenishing potions were always administered by trained medical personnel. An untrained witch or wizard could give a patient either to much or not enough, and cause irreparable harm.

In Severus' case, one vial would not be enough to replace all the blood he had lost, consequence of the giant snake's bite. Hermione only had one vial available. She hoped that she would be able to get him to the hospital wing in time to administer another dose. She tried planning things out carefully, but even with full knowledge of how everything transpired his life could still be in danger. If he required more blood before she could safely move him to the hospital wing all would have been for naught. All they could now was wait.

She listened as Voldemort called for Harry to come out of hiding and face him. The time was getting closer and closer. She thought of Ron, having to watch Fred die. He would hate her for this even it is the right thing to do. Hermione could tell that the potions were working. His cheeks were rosy, his breathing was even, and she placed her hand on his chest his heartbeat was normal. She didn't know any diagnostic spells; those would have to wait. She decided that now was a good time to clean up the blood. With a wave of her wand, it was gone. She did not want him to wake up to the sight of all that blood. It would not do him any good to know that he had been in mortal peril. She preferred if he never found out it had been she who saved his life. He had already paid all his debts as far as she was concerned.

Hermione was so lost in her thoughts that she did not realize that it was finally over. She had to get him to the hospital wing quickly. The shouts of victory resounded all over the grounds. She had to send a patronus to hospital wing. Perhaps it would be better if the could send somebody here to retrieve him. It would be easier that way. There would be a lot less to explain that way. She could always tell everyone that she felt guilty about leaving him to die, and came back to check.

This thought made her frown. He would find out it had been her. . Before she thought twice about it the silver otter was on its way to hospital wing. Just enough time would elapse that she could justify her presence there. It had all worked out according to plan. Less than two minutes after she sent her silver messenger several appeared in the shack. The tell tale crack of apparition was heard several times. With the wards, being down it made getting the injured to help much simpler.

Two unfamiliar medi-wizards conjured up a stretcher and levitated his body onto it. The moved him through the air slowly and she followed as they took him into the castle. Once they had him situated in a bed, she left. The task she had set out to do was completed. A true hero in the war against the dark forces was safe, and would recover. Overall, it was time well spent.

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